Lying supine—whether on the analyst’s chair or during sleep—holds the key to deeper psychological insights. Using new-season products from our friends at Mecca, we pay homage to the transformative power of the dream state and probe six compelling women on the psychology of beauty.
Billie Jean
What's the best compliment you've ever received about your appearance?
I get one every day at work, so they never mean anything.
Who is the person that you find the most beautiful?
My boyfriend. He has the most beautiful cheekbones and eyes and the most perfect lips.
I’ve always wanted to do my lip combo on him but he’s never let me.
Who is the glamour icon you most resonate with?
Cindy Crawford. Marilyn Monroe. Pamela Anderson.
Ploy
When did you realise beauty was a form of social currency?
When I started modelling. There was money to be made.
Is that bad to say? I’m just being honest.
Does makeup change your mood?
It enhances how you’re feeling.
If you were feeling sad what would you wear?
Well that’s when I have the most makeup on.
To cover up the sadness.
Heather
When did you first become excited by makeup?
When I was young I was really into A Clockwork Orange.
I bought false eyelashes and wore them upside down on the lower lids.
They were always “caterpillar length”—the longest ones.
What feature took you the longest to appreciate?
I’m still trying to appreciate it—my nose.
Everything else I’ve learned to live with.
When do you feel most like yourself?
When I’m dressed up with a little bit of makeup on.
In my normal life I breed birds, I’m out in the aviaries, I’ve got a rainforest at home.
I’m out there every day just being a human being. When I get dressed up,
I feel transported back to who I was in the seventies.
Ruby
Who is your glamour icon?
I love Sade. She doesn’t have to do much.
When was the first time makeup changed the way you carried yourself?
In school. I never used to wear makeup, then I wore it for the first time and I felt really confident. I think it was black eyeliner. I never wear eyeliner now. It made me feel grown.
What feature of yours took the longest to appreciate?
My gap. Over time it’s come to make me feel more unique.
And a lot of people in my family have it.
AB
When do you feel most like yourself?
When I’m alone.
Why?
Because there’s not really any choice but to be yourself when you’re alone.
Stella
If you could look like any movie character for the rest of your life who would it be
Brooke Shields in Blue Lagoon. Angelic.
How do you feel about being beautiful?
I was bullied for a long time for how I looked...
It’s interesting to be praised for it now as a model.
Which models did you grow up revering?
Snejana Onopka and Gemma Ward—that kind of doll look.
